Tale of Frisk
by GwenIala
Summary: When your birthday cake is made with snails and it reads "Happy 20th birthday human", you should probably start having doubts about your current life style. A glorious adaptation of Hero's Journey, set in the Underground 12 years after the game starts. Rated T for multiple jokes about bone dildos.
1. The Ordinary World, Call to Adventure

When your birthday cake is made with snails and it reads "Happy 20th birthday human", you should probably start having doubts about your current life style.

Frisk had been living in the Ruins with Toriel for most of her life and the goat mum still did not know her name. It had become an inside joke. Like that one time when Frisk had been snooping for chocolate but found a bone in her mom's sock drawer instead.

The human inhaled deeply. As if the candles were her mortal enemies, she blew them all out.

"Did you make a wish, my child?" Toriel asked.

"Of course mum," the human grinned.

Mum. It was long since she'd got used to calling her that. They were a family, mother and daughter, both large and tall with a deep affection for pies. Frisk loved her life. As she loved her mum.

"This cake," the human said, mouth stuffed with cake. Toriel glared at her, unable to admonish her as her own mouth was also full of cake. "…is the best." Frisk swallowed and beamed at her mum, who blushed and beamed back.

"I'm happy that you've come to appreciate my snail cooking." Toriel paused, watching her child gobble the cake happily. "I have a present for you."

Frisk looked up, eyes shining.

"I think you're old enough to start sparring with me."

A bit of cake tumbled out of Frisk's gaping mouth. She quickly closed it. "R-" She swallowed. "Really?"

Her mum nodded.

"Finally! I mean – that's great mum, thank you so much." She grinned. "What made you change your mind about me fighting?"

"Well you've always been quite impulsive..."

"You mean that I'd throw a fit over everything."

"I didn't want to say it like that, but yes. But you've grown and matured. I believe that you can fight now without giving in to rage. Because..." The mum raised her finger and her tone turned teaching, "a fight between a human and monster is not about rage. It's about trying to understand each other and work things out to your mutual advantage. You won't solve anything by being angry."

Frisk rolled her eyes. She had heard that speech many times.

"Don't roll your eyes at me, young lady."

After the celebration the human excused herself for a nap. She was too full of cake to do what she really wanted to do, and what she had done on every of the twelve birthdays she had celebrated in the Underground. She would return to the place where she had fallen, all those years ago, and reflect on what had happened since then.

Golden flowers bloomed in the patch of light that filtered from above. Frisk angled her head backward. How could she have survived such a fall?

She looked back down. There she had laid, right in the middle of the flower patch, with most of her bones broken and her blood oozing out into the soil. She thought that she would die there. Alone, unloved, scorned by her breaking family and mocked by her peers. She remembered the feeling that took her over then. It was, as she recalled, unbridled rage.

Frisk picked a golden flower idly and plucked its petals one by one. When she woke up, she was uninjured. She got to her feet full of determination: She would return home and punish everyone who made her life hell.

"You're such a sadist," someone exclaimed.

The torn flower slipped from Frisk's fingers as she sprang to her feet. A single golden flower turned its blossom toward her.

"Did I frighten you?" Flowey sneered with his makeshift seed face. "Good. You should be frightened. Where's your _mum_?" He spat that word, although Frisk didn't know why. "Isn't she with you?"

Frisk had a bad feeling in her gut but she credited it to the snail pie. She hadn't been really afraid of Flowey since she was thirteen.

"She isn't with youuuuu," Flowey sang. "Who's going to protect you, human?"

"I'm going to protect myself," Frisk snapped in a cocky, intimidating manner and raised her walking stick. She always took it with her when she walked through the Ruins. Its many uses included easing the load on her knees (one of the reasons why she was considering losing some weight), checking for cracks in the ground in puzzle rooms, and, last but not least, deterring Flowey, on the rare occasions that he chose to bother her.

"Ooh, I'm scared," Flowey dipped his head from side to side like a pendulum. "But wait-" the motion ceased abruptly. "I'm not." A deathly grin spread over his face. "Not anymore. Because you aren't in charge anymore."

The human lifted a brow. She was a huge, strong woman with a solid stick in her hands. Her bulk might have made her slow, but Flowey's bullets were weak and Frisk's HP had climbed high over the years of good food and sleep.

"I see. You're unimpressed. Then let me ask you..." The flower's voice turned grating. " _What's the last time you saved_?"

And Frisk blanched.

"Ya hahaha! Long ago, isn't it? How much time would you lose if I killed you right now? Months? _Years_? You've been leading me by the nose, you fat cow! Making me think that there was no point in picking fights because you'd load back the moment things went awry! Making me believe that I was powerless before you! But you, you..." His voice was hushed now. "You can't save anymore, can you?"

The human stumbled backward.

"You've become too satisfied with your life. You have lost your determination!" Flowey sang out, eyes gleaming maniacally. "You can't save! You can't even load! And what's best – _I can_."

"No," the human uttered.

"Yes," Flowey hissed. "My determination outranks yours now. I've already tried to save and load." His grin was so wide it stretched beyond his face. " _It worked_."

The human retreated another step as the flower crawled closer.

"You've lost. I was so tired of this game. Live with Toriel, happily ever after? What a nightmare! But now it's over. I can reset this petty show. Do you hear me? I hold the power you stole from me once again!"

Frisk tripped and fell. Immediately Flowey was cackling in her face. She tried to think of something, anything. Anger, that was where her determination came from. But instead of being angry, she was terrified. And fear, that brings no determination at all.

"I like the face you're making," Flowey drawled. "It's been long since I last saw such a face. Too long. It's a shame that you will die now. But don't worry." His cheerful face twisted into a triumphant leer. "I'll make your death as slow as possible."

A drowning man will clutch at a straw.

"If-if I die now… or you reset… what will happen then?"

Flowey indulged the human with a confused expression.

"You said… you've seen it all. But that was before I came, right? After you kill me, the only interesting thing in this world will be gone. If you reset, eight-year-old me will fall down here again, and she'll be full of determination. So..." She took a shaky breath, and pushed on. "Wouldn't it be more interesting for you to let me go?"

The golden flower laughed. "Struggling to the last minute! I like it! You're right, this will be so much more fun. Hee~" And he was gone.

Frisk heaved a sigh of relief.

" _Just remember._ "

Frisk startled, looking left and right. She couldn't see where the flower's voice was coming from.

" _I'_ _ll be watching every step you make. I can end you at any instant. Bear that in mind while you're frantically trying to find a way out~_ "

Hollow laughter resounded in the cave. And then things fell silent. The human looked around… and felt watched.


	2. Refusal of the Call, Meeting the Mentor

Frisk had forgotten what it was like to fear for her life. It was crippling. It was like drowning in a sea of cold. And no matter what she did, she couldn't find a way out.

There was a knock on the door.

"My child? Are you awake? Breakfast is ready."

The human never skipped meals. She loved food. But at that moment nothing else could fit into her stomach beside the tight knot which was already occupying it.

"I'm not hungry," she said truthfully.

"…Are you alright?"

Mum was worried. Frisk didn't want her worried. If she was worried, she would ask questions, like any good mother would. And if she asked too much, Frisk might tell her something. Something bad. Something that Toriel was not supposed to know. It was better to play it safe.

"I went to sleep late," the human said, rising from her bed to open the door. "I finished the leftover cake at 3 AM, so..." She gave her mum a sheepish smile. It wasn't so hard. She wasn't even lying about those things.

"I noticed," Toriel huffed. "It's not good for you to..."

"I know mum. I know." Frisk waved it away, stifling a yawn. She went for another smile. It felt foreign on her face.

"You seem gloomy," her mum observed. "Is there a problem?"

"I'm just having mood swings. My period's coming up."

"Ah." Toriel averted her eyes and asked no more. It was a dirty excuse to use, but a good one. "Oh!" the goat mum clapped her hands. "I know something that will definitely cheer you up."

"What is it?" the human asked, praying that it would not be pie. A pie was good at any time, but not now.

"Well…" her mum drawled. "Normally I wouldn't let you come but~ since you're grown-up now, I think it will be alright. How would you like to come and see my skeleton friend with me?"

Frisk perked up. She had heard so much about that person from Toriel. Hilarious jokes. Great company. The only thing that her mum never spoke of was where they met.

"I'd love that!" Frisk exclaimed.

"Then it's settled," Toriel smiled. "I'll meet you at the stairs in fifteen minutes. Bring something to drink, your throat will get scratchy from laughing. I'll pack your breakfast in case you get hungry."

The human returned to her room to fetch a backpack. Now that she was alone again, the air felt oppressive. Her thoughts darted to and fro as she emptied its current contents. She would meet him. After all this time. After so many years, she would meet him again.

Toriel also seemed nervous while they were walking through the long corridor. Maybe she was expecting the human to finally ask: Why was I never allowed down here? But Frisk wouldn't ask. Knowing what would happen if she ever asked, she kept silent.

They rounded a corner before, in the distance, the human finally saw the Door. The door that separated her sweet life from the never-ending winter outside. The one thing that could separate Toriel and her. As they walked toward it, the door seemed larger and larger until it towered over them, ancient and dusty and firmly closed.

Toriel set down her handbag and motioned Frisk to come closer. They both placed their ears against the cold door and the goat mum said: "Knock knock."

"Who's there?" came from the other side. Frisk jumped up. Her mum gave her a grin and replied:

"Honey comb."

"Honey comb who?"

"Honey comb your hair."

A burst of laughter vibrated through the stone. The human's heart lifted; it was such a nice laugh. She hadn't heard a man speak, let alone laugh for a long time. She snickered.

"Now there," the man said in surprise. "Unless you've grown a second head, I'd say that there's someone else with you."

"There is," Toriel replied. "Consider yourself lucky. You finally get to meet my daughter."

"How are you," the man said, knocking on the door three times.

"How do you do," Frisk answered timidly.

"So you're the fallen human, huh? Your mum talks about you a lot. Enjoying life in the Ruins?"

"Yeah." The human smiled to herself. "It's all I ever wanted."

"Huh… weird. I always thought human kids were a restless bunch, but apparently you've never left the Ruins."

"I'm not a kid."

"Re~ally. How old are you, human?"

"I turned twenty yesterday."

"Twenty. Nice, round number. You make your mum very happy, you know."

Frisk knew this. She knew that having a healthy, sweet child was all Toriel ever wanted. She knew her dream of being a teacher, of having someone to nurture and care for. Her dream of being the best mother. It was part of the reason why she had stayed with Toriel.

But she didn't want to think about it, so she changed the subject.

"What about your family? Do they make you happy?"

The man laughed. "My brother makes me very happy. Recently he's been admitted into the Royal Guard, you know. He's so excited about it. It's like a dream come true. He's been in the training for an awful lot of years. But some time ago, the head of the Royal Guard finally caved in. She said that he was too determined to stay in the training forever. So there was a ceremony and now my brother's officially a knight! He still serves as a sentry in the Snowdin forest though."

Frisk overheard the last few sentences. Her mind was turning around one particular word that the skeleton had used. "Say, Sans…" she began slowly, "does your brother take apprentices?" She ignored the quizzical look from her mum and waited for the man to speak.

"Uh…" He seemed to be as taken aback as Toriel was. "No? Maybe? He's never talked about it, so I don't know. Why do you ask?"

The human took a deep breath. She could do this. She had to do this. She desperately needed somebody who could help her regain her determination before Flowey got tired of playing with her.

"I'd like your brother to teach me."

Beside her Toriel gasped, placing her hand on Frisk's shoulder.

"My child… what are you saying? I thought that… I even offered to train you myself… Do you want to leave me?"

This was it. This was the question that Frisk had been carefully avoiding for twelve years.

"I don't want to leave you," she said, looking her mum straight in the eye. "I've been very happy with you. Happier than I ever was before I fell down here. But… I'm twenty now. Don't you think that it's a bit strange to be living with my mum at this age? Don't you think that I could go and explore the world by now?"

Toriel shifted her weight. "I admit that I thought it strange. But you always seemed so content to live in the Ruins with me. I hoped that we could live here together forever. I hoped that another child may fall, so that you'd have friends..."

A sudden chill ran down the human's spine. Nobody else was going to fall down. The entire mountain had been made off-limits to the public after Frisk's disappearance. She was the eighth and last human who would ever fall into the underground.

"My child?"

Shaking her head Frisk snapped back into reality. Her mum was watching her, obviously close to tears. The human took a shaky breath and repeated the speech that she had always been avoiding.

"You know mum, most human children aren't as lucky as me. Their parents shout at them, and beat them, and take their anger out at them because they can't solve their own issues. Everybody would want you as their mum. But we both know that I stopped being a kid some time ago. I need to get a life of my own. It doesn't mean that I'll stop loving you. Just that you'll let me grow."

The goat mum sniffed and nodded. "I understand. Just… just…"

Frisk was holding her before she broke into crying. It was beyond weird to be comforting her own mum. But it had to be done. Frisk was a little afraid of fire.

"Hey, if it helps..." the skeleton behind the door said, "I'll keep an eye socket out for the kid after they leave the Ruins. A promise is a promise, right?"

"Thank you, my friend," Toriel sniffled. Her arms around her child tightened, then let loose. She wiped her tears into her sleeve. "This old lady is being dramatic. I will open the Door for you. But you will come and visit me sometime, okay?"

The human promised this without hesitation.


	3. Crossing the Threshold

A curious mixture of excitement, sadness and fear overtook the Ruins. Toriel was darting around, finding items and discarding them again, trying to pack Frisk's belongings in a way that wouldn't make the backpack bigger than her. Frisk was pacing. She heard Flowey laugh on several occasions; this did not improve her mood.

At last they all stood in front of the Door: Frisk and Toriel on one side, the skeleton on the other.

"I wish you a good journey, my child," Toriel said. "Stay strong. Don't pick fights. Remember that you can talk your way out of nearly anything."

"I will."

"And get some warm clothes as soon as possible. I'll put a warmth spell on you but it won't last more than several days. You have to be prepared for the cold by then."

"I will."

"Good. And… and…" Having run out of advice, the goat mum sighed. "Be a good child, won't you?"

"I will," Frisk repeated, hugging her.

Chuckling into her embrace, Toriel mumbled: "I never asked about this but…"

The human paled. Was this about the bone in the sock drawer?

Whispering into the human's ear, Toriel asked: "What's your name?"

The human swallowed a lump in her throat. "Frisk," she whispered back.

"Thank you, Frisk, for staying with me for so long. You've made an old lady very happy."

Frisk nodded, unsure whether the heat spilling into her body was the warmth spell being cast or something else. She wiped her eyes and, leaning her weight against the stone, she pushed the Door open.

White, white, piercing white everywhere. The human covered her watering eyes, blinking the glare away. Her mum, whose condition was no better, peeked over her shoulder. There was nobody outside.

"Ah," Toriel said with a great deal of disappointment. "I guess he had to go somewhere… Well, Frisk, my child… off you go." Smiling she pushed the human out of the door gently and let its great wings fall closed.

Frisk touched the door. From this side its surface was smooth and polished. There was no leverage to pull it open again. She sighed.

"Aww, missing your _mum_ already?"

The human startled. Flowey was watching her from the snow.

"How pathetic. You aren't giving me a very good show. I'm considering killing you to have some fun. Don't worry – I'll load afterwards." He winked at her. "Or maybe I won't, hee… It's up to you, really. I'll be seeing you. Even if you won't be seeing me."

Frisk's knees were still shaking when Sans appeared out of nowhere.

"Sorry I'm late," he excused himself. "Are you ready to go?"

Composing herself quickly, the human gave the skeleton a scrutinising look over. He was shorter than she remembered, but the grin was the same as always. She noticed that he was inspecting her, too.

"...Yeah," she said finally.

"Swell. Then let's g-" He stopped mid-word. He stood motionless for a few seconds. "Then let's go," he finished as if nothing had happened and began walking down the snowy path.

"What was that about?" Frisk asked.

The skeleton smacked his forehead. "I forgot to introduce myself." He extended his hand toward the human. "I'm Sans. Sans the skeleton."

An indistinct sense of déjà vu pricked the human's mind. She switched the walking stick to her left hand and took Sans's right. Its bony grip was strong and…

 _Pfffffft._

...padded with a whoopee cushion. Frisk couldn't help a grin.

"Never gets old," Sans remarked. "Now let's go meet my brother."

They trod the forest path for a good while. Abruptly the skeleton stopped. Frisk nearly barrelled into him. She looked around, assuming Papyrus was approaching, but aside from Flowey's ominous presence she saw nothing extraordinary.

His back turned to the human, Sans asked almost casually: "Do you know that there's somebody following you?"

Frisk froze. A few seconds of tense silence ticked by.

"Hm. Never mind, it's gone." The skeleton resumed walking. Frisk stood still for a few seconds before she moved to catch up with him. And as she walked, a wonderful realisation washed over her: She no longer felt a pair of eyes on her back. Flowey was gone.

"Do you need help getting through those bars?" Sans asked when they reached the gate bridge. "I always thought that my brother made them too wide to stop anyone. But seeing you, well, I stand corrected."

Frisk hated when her figure was made fun of but she decided to let it slide. She settled for returning the compliment. "He obviously made them to stop someone of his own size."

Sans chuckled and did not seem offended at all. "You need help with that?" he pointed at her backpack.

"No," Frisk refused, tugging the thing off and dragging it behind her through the bars.

"Good," Sans dusted off his hands. "I was too lazy to help anyway. Ah, there goes my brother."

The human stopped bothering to heave the backpack back onto her shoulders. Instead she leaned against it and watched the approaching figure.

"He's got a nice cape," she remarked.

"Tell that to him," Sans winked at her. "He'll be happy to hear it."

The huge piece of red cloth was billowing as Papyrus walked briskly toward them. Similar to Sans, he looked the same as in Frisk's memories, only he didn't tower over her so much. Which didn't mean he didn't tower over her anymore. He was still half a head taller.

"Human!" Papyrus addressed Frisk's backpack. "My brother has told me of your wish that I, the great Papyrus, accept you as my apprentice in the Royal Guard! Because that is who I am, a member of the Royal Guard."

The backpack seemed impressed, though it said nothing in response.

"I see!" Papyrus wasn't thrown off at all. "You are shy. That is understandable, for you are meeting the great Papyrus for the first time. But human! I must disappoint you. As a member of the Royal Guard, it is my priority to capture you, rather than take you as my apprentice. You will face a series of puzzles so great that even the greatest minds are boggled by them. That is – sometimes I am boggled by them! Who would have thought I would become so good at making puzzles that I would have trouble solving them!"

Frisk's ears were starting to ring from the loud monologue.

"Your flabbergasted silence flatters me." Papyrus smiled at her backpack. "Come human, and meet your fate in the field of puzzles." He waved energetically and cackling "Nyeh heh heh" he made his leave.

Sans snorted. "That went well."

The human hefted her doppelgänger-backpack and picked up her walking stick, trying to recall the solutions to the numerous puzzles Papyrus had put her through. She failed because she was too distracted by musing if the taller skeleton had always been this handsome. It didn't matter anyway – in twelve years a lot must have changed. The puzzles were certainly a lot more devilish now.


	4. Tests, Allies, and Enemies

Frisk never liked jumbles. Now, however, she was beginning to hate them. Every single puzzle that Papyrus and Sans presented her with contained some form of jumble. Be it stones (uncooperative stones), snowballs or multicoloured floor tiles, the solution always included juggling with letters in awfully long words. Like boondoggling. The answers were all bad skeleton jokes, like: "What did the skeleton say while he was riding his Harley Davidson? I was bone to be wild!"

In the middle of the fifth puzzle, the human's patience ran out. "This sucks," she announced and plopped down in the snow next to her luggage. Papyrus was immediately at her side.

"You can do it human, I believe in you," he cheered her backpack on. "Send out your robot servant one more time and I'm sure you'll succeed."

"This is not a human!" Frisk burst out. "I'm the human, Papyrus. This," she pointed, "is my backpack where I keep things."

"Oh." The royal guardsman was genuinely taken aback. "Are you sure? I always imagined humans to be… smaller in size. Like Sans."

Frisk stared at him with mouth agape. How come that from her previous run Papyrus remembered that humans were sized like children, but he did not recall her face? It was ridiculous.

"Now that you mention it," Papyrus stroked his chin, "it does look like a bag stuffed full of personal belongings. I apologise, tall human."

"Apology accepted," Frisk grumbled, rubbing her belly. She was hungry. She had been too wound up to eat anything, but ever since Sans had taken notice of Flowey's stalking the monster had stayed away, so the human's appetite was returning. She pulled her backpack closer and unzipped a side pocket, pulling out a lunch box. It contained two large slices of cinnamon-butterscotch pie. Toriel's last pie for Frisk. With certain nostalgia the human collected one slice in both hands and brought it to her mouth.

She paused.

Papyrus's eyes, which were normally hollow sockets, were _sparkling_. He was watching her pie with the unabashed enthusiasm of a person who had eaten nothing but spaghetti since he learnt to cook. Now Frisk loved pies with a passion. To boot she hadn't eaten for a day. But she wasn't heartless. Even if this was the last pie her mum would ever bake for her, Papyrus's face was too brimming with hope to let down.

Sighing the human tore the pie from her mouth and presented it to Papyrus. "Here."

The skeleton gasped and cradled the slice in his hands. "Wowie! Thank you, human. You are very kind!"

Frisk muttered something and took the other piece. She was rolling the sweetness on her tongue when she noticed Papyrus was staring at his slice piously.

"I have to share this with Sans," he whispered. "Sans!" he called out. "Brother! Where are you? The human has given us something extraordinary! Sans?"

Frisk ate while Papyrus was searching for his brother. Finally Sans was located to be asleep in a thick bush.

"You pick the strangest places for your naps," Papyrus lamented while he was dragging his sibling to where Frisk was sitting. Sans objected half-heartedly that he hadn't fallen asleep in the bush but he stopped when he spotted the pie in Papyrus's other hand. Dropping his brother next to the human, Papyrus sat cross-legged to Frisk's other hand. "Let's eat," he announced with delight.

Having already finished her piece, Frisk leaned against her monstrous backpack and watched lazily as the brothers shared Toriel's pie. Cinnamon was hard to come by so Toriel only baked this pie on very special occasions. Frisk wondered what her mum was doing right now. It was thanks to her that Frisk was warm and cosy. Warmth spells were the best…

The human opened her eyes to see Sans snoozing on the same spot where Papyrus had placed him. The royal guardsman himself was nowhere to be seen and it was getting dark. Flushing Frisk realised she had taken a nap and the brothers had let her sleep. She got to her feet quickly. Black fog drew over her vision.

When the haze cleared, she found Sans to be staring at her.

"It's just low blood pressure," the human said, pushing herself off her backpack self-consciously.

Sans hummed. It was unclear whether he had understood her. "Going back to your puzzles?" He didn't appear sleepy at all. In fact, he seemed very much awake.

"Yes," Frisk confirmed, shaking off the creeping feeling that Sans had been watching her. It would be nothing new, she thought, that's what he had done in the previous run, too. "Let's get this over with. Do you know how many puzzles are left?"

"A few," the skeleton elaborated.

Fortunately, "a few" turned out to mean "you're in the middle of the last one". Sooner than expected Frisk arrived at a wooden suspension bridge behind which lay Snowdin. Papyrus attempted to challenge her with one final puzzle, the Gauntlet of Deadly Terror (old but gold, he called it). However, he changed his mind when he saw how tired the human was. Claiming that she was in no state for this puzzle, he let her through.

"Get some rest, human!" he told her. "Tomorrow I, the great Papyrus, member of the Royal Guard, shall battle and capture you! Nyeh heh heh heh!" he laughed in delight at the prospect and hopped away.

Frisk threw her backpack off as haphazardly as she dared and she stretched to her full height. God, her back was killing her. She hadn't expected to be carrying the heavy luggage around for so long. The walking stick helped greatly but extra weight was extra weight.

"Hey," she called out when she noticed Sans was leaving as well. "Where are you going?"

Sans half turned to her. "Places."

"Are you going to leave me here?"

"Uhh… yes? You're a big kid, you can take care of yourself."

"But yesterday you told mum that I could sleep at your place."

Sans shifted his weight. "Papyrus won't let you in. He still wants to fight you."

"But I don't have enough money for the inn."

The skeleton's eyes narrowed. "You haven't been to Snowdin yet. How do you know there's an inn?"

The human's heart skipped a beat but she answered swiftly: "Mum told me."

"She hasn't been out of the Ruins for years. How do you know how much a night costs?" Sans pressed.

"I don't. I just know that I don't have enough gold. Because I don't have any gold."

It was a lie. Toriel wouldn't let her child travel the world penniless and the guardian dogs had dropped some cash as well. But Frisk was good at telling small lies.

Sans stared at her for a moment. "You seemed comfortable enough napping in the snow," he said finally. The human grimaced but didn't argue. Sans didn't seem up to bargaining. "See you tomorrow kid."

Only when he was safely out of earshot did Frisk heave a sigh of relief. Nosy and observant as always. She bent down to dig some spider cider out of her backpack when an unpleasant feeling washed over her. She lifted her head to see a ring of white pellets surround her. She turned in alarm. Flowey was in the snow behind her. His seed face was distorted with animosity.

When the bullets were rocketed at her, Frisk only had time to cover her face. Each hit felt like a burning cigarette was pressed into her skin. Tears sprang to her eyes as her HP was beaten to half under the barrage. She spent her turn picking up her walking stick and wondering what had made Flowey this intent on killing her off. Immediately the monster's next attack circled her. This time, however, Frisk was ready. Before the pellets began closing in she ploughed through the ring, wincing as she ran into several projectiles but glad she didn't have to take all of them again.

"Where were you?" she asked, stalling for time.

Another impossible-to-avoid ring of bullets.

"Nothing to say, Flowey?" she taunted the golden flower. It wasn't the best idea as the next swarm was faster. HP at one third. "Don't make me attack you," Frisk warned him, raising the stick.

"I have nothing to fear from you," the monster spat, hurling another attack.

"One last chance," Frisk acted.

"Piss on your last chance."

Left with 20 % of HP the human charged. A swing with her walking stick beat the golden flower to the ground, its stem nearly broken in half.

"I'll… kill you!" Flowey shrieked. However, his next attack was weak and slow.

"Give up already before I kill you by accident," Frisk tried to convince him.

"Bah! As if that mattered now that I can loa-"

"What the heck is going on here?" The human looked over her shoulder to see Papyrus approaching with long strides. It was a mistake that Flowey immediately abused. When Frisk turned back, a swarm of bullets was already flying at her face. It was a hit she would die from.

"Stop that!" A red mitten shot out in front of Frisk's face and batted the bullets away. Papyrus was looking between the two combatants with an exasperated expression. "Why are you two fighting each other?"

"Get out of my way!" Flowey screamed, voice snapping with pain and rage. Dozens of bullets formed all around them. Frisk was frantically looking for an escape path when Papyrus's hand squeezed her shoulder.

"When you're green, you can't escape," he told her, eyes darting over the hovering pellets. He raised his arm; he was holding a long white bone. It was ghost-like in the green glow of her Soul. "Here it comes!"

Too many things happened at once. Frisk stood motionless, but not a single pellet hit her. Only the red cape swirled around her as Papyrus deflected each pellet with his bone club. Flowey's makeshift jaw dropped.

"You idiot! Don't -! You're a member of the Royal Guard, you're supposed to capture and kill her, not protect her!"

"I _am_ a member of the Royal Guard," Papyrus said proudly, a little out of breath. "That's why I won't let you two fight on my watch. You've beaten each other up enough. Come on, shake hands and make friends."

Flowey let out a high-pitched cry that sounded like "ohhh Goood". Frisk covered her ears fearing that this alone might finish her off. Papyrus only stared at Flowey patiently.

"Fine!" the flower shouted at last. "I'll go! But I'll be back, morons. And this time, I _will_ kill you, human!" And he burrowed into the snow until there was nothing left of him but a shaken Frisk.

"I apologise, human," Papyrus sighed. "My friend was in a bad mood. Do you need to recover some HP? Here." He produced a plate of steaming ravioli. "Try Papyrus's marvellous cooking, nyeh heh heh!"

"Is this alright?" Frisk asked doubtfully. "I think we broke a few battle rules there, plus you're supposed to fight me and all…"

"Yeees," Papyrus admitted. "But you did give me half of your lunch, so…"

No further encouragement was needed. "Many thanks." Frisk snatched the pasta and sniffed at it. It actually smelled quite good. She guessed Papyrus had got better at cooking in those twelve years.

"We're even now," Papyrus nodded. "I wish you a good night, human." He flung his large red cape dramatically as he walked away.

Frisk had just realised that she didn't have a fork when a pained outcry cut through her ears. Papyrus was kneeling in the snow, clutching at his head. Promptly Frisk set her dinner aside and hurried toward him.

"I'm alright," the skeleton said even before she reached him. He stood up quickly, massaging the back of his head. "I'm alright. It's an old wound. I got it while I was sparring! Don't tell Sans please."

The human found it suspicious. "I won't tell him," she said.

"Promise?"

"I promise."

After Papyrus left, it took only a few minutes until the human felt Flowey's vengeful eyes set on her again. Hefting her backpack for what she hoped would be the last time that day, she entered Snowdin.


	5. Approch, The Ordeal

Huddled in the snow against a log house wasn't Frisk's idea of a good night's sleep. Nevertheless, it was worth waking up to see a certain short skeleton staring at her with an incredulous grin.

"Have you been here all night?" Sans asked.

"Uh-huh," Frisk confirmed, rubbing her eyes.

"Jeez." The skeleton scratched the back of his skull. "Way to make a guy feel inhospitable."

The human arched an eyebrow at him. " _You_ suggested that I sleep in the snow."

Sans grinned uneasily. "It snow big deal, right?"

Frisk rolled her eyes and began peeling off her woollen quilt. She shuddered when cool air met her skin. "Warmth spells don't last forever, you know," she told the skeleton. When she looked up, he was gone. Rude.

With what gold she had, Frisk bought three cinnamon bunnies at the shop and washed them down with her remaining spider cider. On the shopkeeper's recommendation she left her baggage at the inn next door and went sightseeing. Even in the middle of a group of monsters, her stomach was fluttering nervously. Flowey was watching again. Not to mention that it was haunting how every face she recognised was so much older.

Walking past the library toward the misty end of Snowdin, the human felt acutely that there was now nobody between her and the bloodthirsty golden flower. She quickened her pace.

A sharp crack.

The human whipped around, raising her walking stick. Nobody.

"I know you're there!" she cried out in frustration. "If you want to have some fun and kill me, go ahead and give it a try!" She searched her frustration for anger, but the spark was nowhere to be found. She was still simply scared.

"Whoa," someone said to Frisk's other side. The human nearly strained her neck turning around. It was Sans. Frisk's stomach relaxed, then dropped. What had she said? "I was just gonna watch the fight and invite you on a breakfast afterwards, since… you're out of cash." The carefully questioning tone told her that he'd seen her buy the cinnamon bunnies. Twice damn. "Why did you think I'd want to kill you?" Damn three times.

Racking her brain the human looked for an excuse. "I didn't know it was you. Sorry."

Sans gave her a searching look. She hadn't answered his question and she wasn't going to. He sighed. "Enjoy the fight," he said with false cheer.

Nodding the human walked past him as quickly as possible. He was suspicious of her. In situations like these, she used to load. Now she had to bear the consequences. The thickening fog clung to her, damped her hair, condensed on her skin. It was getting hard to breathe, and it wasn't just her panic.

"Human."

She stopped.

"So you have come. Let the greatest battle in history begin!"

Magically the mist cleared away and the human saw Papyrus. He was in all of his glory: red cape billowing, polished armour shining, a cocky and confident smile on his face. A matching grin tugged on Frisk's mouth. Just the sight of him was enough to lift half her worries from her mind.

The skeleton beckoned to her, passing her the first turn. The human considered her options, weighed the walking stick in her hand, and decided to start by attempting to spare her opponent.

"I don't want to fight you," she said. "Let's discuss this over a cup of tea."

Unpredictably Papyrus blushed and stuttered: "A-are you inviting me on a date?"

"I would if I could," Frisk replied, flashing a smile. She hoped that this would soften the skeleton and make the battle quicker. As expected, Papyrus blushed deeper and squealed, a sound that didn't really match his imposing appearance. Then he cleared his throat.

"The battle comes first!" he announced. "Prepare for my attack!" Well, that didn't work.

An array of bones materialised around the skeleton and darted toward the human. The onslaught was a lot harder to avoid than she remembered. It wasn't surprising, really. Sans _had_ said that his brother had spent the years training. But even when the human used her vast HP to plough through some of the bones, she got smacked by numerous attacks without ever meaning to. Being older, she seemed to be slower _and_ a bigger target. Or maybe back then she had higher stats? At any rate, after a short while she was gasping for breath. There was an ominous feeling in her gut. Something was coming.

The last bone flew by. Papyrus raised his arm high into the air. When he let it drop, in gracious slow-motion, the red glow from Frisk's chest turned blue and she remembered. She barely had time to brace herself on her walking stick before double gravity kicked it.

"Nyeh heh heh! I see that my attack has made you quite blue," Papyrus remarked in delight.

"No kidding," the human muttered through clenched teeth. Sweat beaded on her forehead as she exerted all her muscles to stay upright. Now _this_ was a reason for losing weight! Blue attacks! Too bad she hadn't thought of it before. Now it was all she could do to stand. From the distance she saw a tiny bone approaching, aimed at her ankles.

Summoning all her strength she jumped, pushing herself off the earth. The bone passed harmlessly under her. Frisk experienced a short jolt of joy before her feet connected with the ground.

Crunch. Crunch.

"Fuck!" the human screamed as she went down. Tears sprang to her eyes freely as her HP leaped into single digits. Her knees had broken under her weight! If she hadn't been in so much pain, she would have laughed like a madman at the irony. This way she was only sobbing harshly.

"Human?" Papyrus asked, unsure. "What has happened? My attack wasn't this strong."

Frisk rolled onto her back, sprawling in the snow. Her crying subsided as the pain dulled, a much appreciated feature of monster battles. She had known that her opponent was strong, but she still couldn't believe that she had lost so quickly. "I broke my knees," she sniffled. "I should have seen that coming, God…"

"You broke your knees?" Papyrus repeated, a terrified note in his voice. "Oh God, human… I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you that badly!" He took a step forward, then halted as he realised they were still in a battle. "I… I broke my elbow once," he said uneasily. "I had to wear a cast for months until the doctor allowed me to take it off. Bones take a long time to mend."

"Maybe it won't take that long," Frisk said, thinking of monster food and its magical healing properties. She tried to give Papyrus a smile. She failed. "C-can I spare you now? I can't put up any more fight, so you can go ahead and capture me."

"Of course," Papyrus nodded quickly, accepting her mercy. He paused as the meaning of the surrender dawned on him, and laughed almost in surprise. "Nyeh heh heh heh heh! I, the great Papyrus, have fulfilled my duty as a member of the Royal Guard! I have captured a human!"

"Good for you," Frisk mumbled, searching for any kind of food in her pockets. She was startled when Papyrus jammed his hands under her and swept her up. "Whoaa!" She flung her arms around his neck, expecting him to sway under her weight and drop her. But when the world steadied Papyrus was standing upright, as solid as a rock.

A blush rose to Frisk's cheeks. It was true that she was in no condition to walk, but she had never been carried bridal style. She was too heavy for any boy to try his luck. This skeleton sure was something. Something… uncomfortable as hell. His bones dug into her bruised flesh with every stride he made. Frisk hissed with pain, holding onto his neck tighter in an attempt to lift some of her weight off his arms.

Making his way back to Snowdin, Papyrus was chattering happily about the honours he would get now that he had captured a human. The said human was considering how to tell her captor that he could never tell Undyne about his achievement, lest his captured human be slain in cold blood and her Soul taken. Engrossed in such cheerful thoughts the human didn't notice that they were not headed for the couch at all.

"Wait, are you going to leave me here?" she called out from behind the bars of the shed.

"I must consult with my brother," Papyrus told her. "Wait here, human." And he was gone.

Lovely. Just lovely. Frisk had been looking forward to lying on their lumpy couch in the warmth of their home. And here she was, on the cold hard ground of their shed. There was even some dog food in a bowl in the corner.

After a while of self-respect the human crawled to the bowl and ate one of the brown pellets. It was fresh and crunchy and it restored 2 HP of her decimated health. Frisk decided that it was worth it.

When the bowl was empty, the human's knees could carry her weight again. Silently she thanked the strange physics of the monster world and she squeezed through the bars.


	6. The Reward

When Frisk entered the skeleton household, Papyrus gave her a stunned once-over.

"Human, how did you escape the shed?" he asked in shock.

"Magic," Frisk smiled, closing the door behind her. Her smile fell when she realised the inside of the house wasn't any warmer than the outside. "I'm mostly healed," she announced, rocking on her heels to show her point. "We can finally get to business. Papyrus, have you decided yet? Fancy yourself an apprentice?"

"We were just talking about it!" Papyrus nodded. "My brother thinks that it's dangerous to take you in. But! As far as apprenticeship goes, I have tonnes of experience!"

"Skeletons," Sans corrected. Papyrus gave him a stern look.

"Anyway! I've been in the training under Undyne since I was nineteen! That means I am very qualified when it comes to training someone!" He hesitated. "Speaking of Undyne…" He rubbed the back of his head gently, a gesture that didn't go unnoticed. "As my brother reminded me, it is my duty as a member of the Royal Guard to bring you before the king."

"You haven't uh…" the human's throat was suddenly dry, "told anyone about me yet, have you?" If she died as things stood, loading back would fail. Her death would be permanent.

"I… haven't told anyone that you've been captured," the skeleton avoided the question, looking anywhere but at the human. Before Frisk had time to be properly horrified, Papyrus burst out: "I'm sorry – I didn't know you would be so… easy to defeat! Undyne has been dying to get her hands on a human. If I hadn't begged-… _asked_ her to let me capture you myself, she would have stomped over here and… and brought you straight before the king." The hesitation made it obvious that Papyrus had a fairly good idea of what would happen from that point on. Why couldn't he have shown this sentiment before he'd given away Frisk's presence? "But I knew that humans were tough, and Sans has told me that you were strong, so I thought that it would be alright!" He cupped the back of his head, grimacing. Sans took a step forward, raising his hand. Papyrus noticed, quickly lowering his hand to his side. "Excuse me," he blurted out and he all but ran up the stairs to his room. After the door slammed shut behind him, Sans and Frisk were left in the living room, gazing after him in concern. The human glanced at the other monster nervously.

"So," Sans said. He dragged his eyes away from Papyrus's room. "You did lose pretty quickly."

"It was the blue attack!" Frisk bristled, then calmed herself down by the power of habit instilled into her by the peace-loving Toriel. "If Undyne can't use gravity against me, I should be fine." She paused. "She _can't_ use the blue attack, right? Papyrus might have learned the green attack from her, but she didn't learn the blue from him… did she?"

Sans shook his head. "Blue attacks are innate to skeletons. My brother is nothing short of a genius to be able to master a second kind of magic. I'm really proud of him."

Frisk nodded. "His cooking is great, too," she observed enthusiastically, thinking back on the ravioli.

Sans grinned wider. "Right? When he started under Undyne, all she would teach him was cooking. I had to eat out for years. I still haven't paid my tab at Grillby's. You know the place?" The human caught herself before nodding and she shook her head instead. "Wanna go grab a late breakfast there? It's the best junk food around."

"I um… I've already eaten," the human said, embarrassed. "I ate the kibbles at the shed." Thankfully she didn't have to lie this time.

"Grillby has those, too," Sans assured her. The human grew red. She grew redder when she realised that Sans was joking. The short skeleton snorted in amusement. "Anyway. After my brother learned to cook so well that Undyne's lessons made him worse instead of better, she offered to teach him the green attack. Everybody thought that she was cracked in the head. They said that she had gone stir-crazy while waiting for a human to appear. But Papyrus, he proved everybody wrong. He actually learned to use green magic. If it were up to me, I'd guess this was the main reason why he was admitted into the Royal Guard. There hasn't been a dual caster in ages. It would be downright insulting not to have him in the Royal Guard. Though, of course. Papyrus doesn't think of it that way."

"Wow," the human said when Sans waited for a reaction. "I didn't know monsters couldn't use more than one sort of magic."

Sans seemed surprised. "You've been living with the lady for years. Hasn't she taught you about monster magic?"

Frisk shook her head. "She didn't teach me anything related to fighting."

"Why not?"

"I uh… I used to be a hothead. When a monster hurt me in a fight, sometimes I'd flip my lid and…" Frisk ground to a stop. Sans's expression was scaring her. "I-I was forbidden to fight after she took me in."

Frightening seconds ticked by. Sans's eyes were boring into her. After a while Frisk remembered the sensation. The last corridor. He was reading her EXP.

Frisk's EXP was zero. She couldn't go to her mum with her hands dusty. Even when she'd killed a monster in a fit of temper, she'd always loaded back. "Well," Sans smiled. Like a curtain the heavy atmosphere was lifted. "If you haven't been in a battle for twelve years, it's no wonder that you went down so easily."

"Hey! I told you, if it wasn't for the blue attack-"

A door swung open with such force that it slammed against the wall.

"The great Papyrus is back!" the skeleton announced, climbing down the stairs in a dignified fashion. "What have I missed?"

"Nothing," the human answered before Sans could report anything. "We're still waiting for your decision about my training."

"Haven't we decided that already?" Papyrus asked, puzzled. "I, the great Papyrus, member of the Royal Guard, will take you in as my apprentice and teach you everything I know. It's obvious that you are in desperate need of training." He looked from Frisk to Sans. "Are there any objections?"

The short skeleton shrugged. A welcome change from his earlier opinions about her being dangerous.

"Good!" Papyrus beamed. "Let us begin, human! First, you must find accommodation. Where is your luggage? Bring it here. The couch is free, so you can sleep on it. As long as you put away the cushions in the morning, of course."

Feeling like she was in Toriel's lecture again, the human raised her hand.

"You may speak, human," Papyrus prompted her kindly. It made Frisk warm inside.

"I'll need some spare clothes. These don't really cut it in the winter," she tugged at her shorts.

"Hmm. Yeees," Papyrus drawled, appearing pensive. "I _have_ heard that since humans have skin, they can be prone to cold. Come with me, human. I must have some clothes that fit you…"

Opening his room, the tall skeleton went straight for the closet. Frisk looked around curiously.

"What… is that?" she pointed at a plastic skeleton wearing a set of badly battered clothing.

"Huh?" Papyrus looked over his shoulder. "Ohh, my old battle body! Sans made it for me to wear at a costume party. Isn't it grand? I had to stop wearing it after it started falling apart, unfortunately. Buuut..." His voice bubbled with excitement as he knocked on his suit of polished silver armour. He was so full of pride that Frisk understood at once.

"Your armour is modelled after it," she filled in. It was great to see Papyrus fulfil his lifelong dream of becoming a royal guardsman. She was so happy for him that she was taken aback by the strength of the sentiment. She wasn't crushing on him, was she?

Papyrus gave Frisk a stunned look. "Human! How did you know? Did you read my thoughts?"

The girl shook her head, grinning. "The new version is so much better. I love the red cape!"

As Sans had predicted, Papyrus lit up like a Christmas tree.

The human left her mentor's room with a stack of clothing that would probably fit her if she rolled the sleeves up half a mile. Tucked safely into the heap there was a single humerus, Frisk's guilty pleasure. Papyrus had no idea why she'd asked to take it from the box. Truth be told, Frisk couldn't believe that she had missed it in the array of Papyrus's attacks. She had never seen an object that looked so much like a man's penis. (Not that she had ever seen a live man's penis.) She thought of her mum, and the bone in her sock drawer, and she couldn't stop herself from giggling.

Thus, Frisk's apprenticeship under Papyrus began.


	7. The Road Back

The 26th day of Frisk's apprenticeship under Papyrus began poorly, and it only got worse. In the morning Sans tried to sit on Frisk's couch before she cleaned up. She heard his yelp just as she was getting into the shower and she nearly slipped, barely saving herself on a rack of towels. Which collapsed. Among the wreckage Sans appeared, waving Frisk's bone dildo in front of her face.

"What the hell is-" Seeing the human's naked body, he screamed. The human screamed. In the kitchen Papyrus screamed. Sans teleported away and Frisk didn't see him for the rest of the morning. He did not return the bone.

As hours went by, the human descended deeper into her dark mood. When she spilled the milk meant for her coffee, she wiped at it so angrily that she knocked over her coffee mug, too. Her boots were freezing cold because she had forgotten to put a pair of warmers inside. The snow was tacky, the light pinched at her eyes, and the great Papyrus was not helpful at all.

"I just do not understand, human," he told her unhappily as they headed toward their sparring ground, Frisk stomping ahead, the skeleton trying to keep up. "Lately you have been so moody! I thought that you were having problems with your aunt, but that only lasts a week, doesn't it?"

"You are a genius Papyrus," the girl grumbled. Indeed, her period had passed a week ago. But she was enjoying this. It was so _easy_ to just be angry, to complain instead of trying to fix things. That she was unfair and hurtful toward Papyrus, she successfully glossed over. He was so optimistic, he would get over it. The important thing was that in each of the jabs, Frisk felt a spark of anger, a tiny bit of that red flame that used to burn so bright inside her. If she carried on this way, she would get her determination back. She was so close, she couldn't stop now.

"Perhaps it would be better to postpone the sparring and stick to cooking lessons today..." Papyrus offered uneasily.

"No," Frisk spat, glaring at him. "I want to spar now." Their surroundings dimmed a little as she picked a fight. Frisk had become familiar with the magic that governed monster battles. She raised her walking stick and grinned.

If she hadn't kept tabs on her kill count (which was zero!), she would have sworn that her stats were rising. It was so much easier to attack now, to swing her stick at the skeleton's legs, chest, head. Four weeks ago just the thought of hurting someone had made her sick. Toriel's principles had held her fast in their grasp. But old ways never go away completely. And so Frisk attacked. And attacked. Papyrus was saying something, telling her to stop and have a rest, he'd make her a plate of ravioli just how she liked it, but she did not listen. There was the noise of static in her ears and a hot buzz in her Soul as she avoided and attacked, avoided and attacked, until suddenly Papyrus was kneeling in the snow, reaching out with a shaking hand.

"Mercy," she could hear him say. It was then that the hot buzz finally coalesced. It became a single, panic-stricken thought: I am disgusting. I am a murderer.

Frisk had never run so fast in her fat life.

When she reached the skeleton house, her breath was wheezing in her sore throat, her legs ached like hell and she felt sick. All the anger that she had been pampering was turning to fear. What would she have done if she hadn't come to her senses? Would she have killed Papyrus in her frenzied quest for determination? She couldn't load yet! She would be a murderer, she would have to face the consequences, the faces of everyone and… and Sans, what would Sans do to her? Oh God…

Her throat was so tight with wanting to cry that she couldn't even gasp for air. She had to calm down. Fumbling for the key she unlocked the door and barged inside. She slammed the door closed, locked it, and sagged against the wood, hiding her face behind her folded forearms.

It was minutes later, when she was just about ready to stop sobbing, that a voice hissed:

"Why did you do that?"

She jerked upright so fast that she hit the back of her head against the door. Sans was looking down at her unsympathetically.

"Why did you hurt my brother?" he repeated. He appeared rather unimpressive, hands tucked deep into his pockets, a short frail skeleton. It gave Frisk goosebumps of apprehension all over her body.

"I'm sorry." She couldn't apologise enough. "I was stupid. I thought-"

...that I would gain something. She wanted to say something along those lines. Sans, however, beat her to it.

"That you could set it back and make it like it never happened?"

Frisk stared at the skeleton, mouth ajar. "What?" she breathed out.

"Determination," Sans said, and he said it with such disgust in his voice that Frisk's stomach turned, "the willpower to make things your way. To change fate. Your bone was full of it."

"What bone… _what_?"

"Look pal, don't play dumb." Sans smiled. It was a very discomforting smile. "Not now and not with me. Do you know just how many signs you've dropped? I've spent a better part of my life looking for your kind. I know what to look for."

"What?" She did sound dumb, but she couldn't help it. How could he know all that? She'd been so careful!

"Since it's you, I'll spell it out for you. Let's see." Falling back into laid-back demeanour, Sans tapped his chin. "I've got lots of small things, like how you were familiar with everything, or how scared you were of Undyne… But there's one hard fact that remains, and that ticked me off right at the beginning. You see – you called me by my name behind that door. I've never told my name to the lady, and she hasn't told me hers. Yet you, who had never left the Ruins, knew who I was." He grinned and rocked on his heels. "You made that mistake at the very start, human. I had barely heard your voice and I already had a solid proof that you were that time traveller. You are the one who messed up the time-space continuum."

"...Messed up the what?" Frisk echoed.

"Come now," Sans dipped his head to the side. "Haven't I explained it to you already?"

"No, you haven't explained anything to me!" Frisk frowned. "It would be nice if you did."

Sans looked at her curiously. "You know… You take yourself for a good liar. I hate to break it to you, but you aren't. I can see right through you. But right now, it doesn't seem like you're lying. But..." he continued, thinking aloud, "if you have reset as many times as the time monitor has recorded, I must have let my tongue loose at least once. Unless-" his eyes locked with hers, "there was another time traveller. A more powerful one. An older one. The one that's been trying to kill you ever since you left the Ruins, and who's only been hanging back because Papyrus is with you all the time."

Frisk wanted to say something, to object, to deny everything. However, she could only watch Sans as he uncovered all of her secrets with this morbid fascination in his voice. It didn't seem like he was able to stop either. The words all but poured out of him.

"You know, a part of me really wants to kill you. You bring back everything bad in my life, the things that happened after they kicked me out of the lab." At Frisk's confused expression, he laughed. "You don't know that either? I used to be a scientist, human! A damn good one at that. I thought so highly of myself that I got into this enormous fight with our boss, the Royal Scientist, and he fired me! Oh God, I was so furious that I stole his most important documents and ran away with them. The schema for his perfect machine, the one that would enable him to travel into the past and stop us from ever getting locked down here in the first place. I wanted to be the one to get that honour."

Again the skeleton laughed, and it was self-ridiculing and empty. "God I was an oaf. I couldn't make the machine work by myself. And by the time I got over my stupid pride… it was too late. He was gone, the team was gone, my career was gone and all I had left was a barely functioning time monitor." He sighed. "I would have picked up another career just to get Papyrus off my case. But then I noticed something strange.

"The machine started recording loops. It looked like time had jumped back, then carried on again. At first I thought the poor thing was broken. But it wasn't. You know, every monster gets a sense of déjà vu here and then. It's a common thing. But when you notice that your déjà vus match perfectly with the time loops on your genius boss's machine… That's where the going gets tough. I won't bother you with the details, I've already said too much… but…"

For the first time in this timeline, all light faded from Sans's eyes, leaving them dead and empty.

"Knowing that whatever you do, it might as well go to waste and be rewritten… that can destroy a better man than me."

The light-pupils flickered back to life, and Sans was looking at her… with a pleading expression?

"Please, human. You of all people have got to understand. Twelve years ago you saw me at my worst. I spent hours lazing in my stations, brooding over all the implications of time travel. But… it's been better since then. For ten years there hasn't been a single loop, a single hitch in the timeline. It's all straight and wonderful, and I've got better. Papyrus can tell you I'm not as lazy as I used to be, sometimes I do the dishes and I don't eat out all the time. I taught myself to care again, for his sake. But… with you here… doing _that_?" He gestured toward the door, to the sparring ground. "I can't… Please. I can't go back. I can't go back to that time and die inside all over again. What I'm trying to say..."

He took Frisk by the shoulders.

"Is it you who's been keeping the other guy from messing with the timeline?"

"Yeah," the human croaked.

"Then promise me. Promise me that you'll keep it that way. I'll help you out with the other guy, just _please_. Keep him from going back in time. Keep this timeline clean."

Frisk kept silent.

"Can you do that?" Sans asked, hopeful, hanging on by a thread.

"I can," the human affirmed, a warm feeling in her chest. There had to be a way. She would make a way. She would get her determination back and stop Flowey once and for all.


	8. The Resurrection

Until Papyrus slept off the unfortunate fight, Sans took Frisk out to Grillby's so that they could relax and take a break from the serious atmosphere. They ended up talking seriously anyway, in a quiet voice: about Frisk's quest for determination, her peaceful years with the goat mum, how Sans finally managed to shrug off the lingering fear of a reset. The skeleton told her of his years in the lab and grumbled that his old good-for-nothing colleague was the Royal Scientist now. In turn Frisk shared pieces of her past among the humans and confessed why she had reset her first run. They found themselves talking of things they had never told anyone before. Maybe it was because there had been no one to tell it to. Sans kept his brother in the dark so as not to make him worry, and Toriel never asked.

They were interrupted much later by Grillby telling them that he was closing for the night.

"I'm surprised Papyrus hasn't come to get us yet," Sans remarked. In the skeleton house all lights were off. Sans went straight into his brother's room where he had put Papyrus into bed, while the human went to brush her teeth. Half asleep already, she threw her sheets on the couch and snuggled under the covers.

"Good night!" she called out. No response.

With a few second delay, Frisk realised that earlier that day she had hurt Papyrus and run off, and she should at least see if he was okay and apologise. She grumbled all the way out of the bedsheets, but the drive of her guilt was stronger. She had acted awful toward him during the past month. He had taken her in and promised to teach her – and what had she done in return? Trampled all over him because she thought it would _help_.

Nobody answered her knock, so the human let herself in. In the door frame she froze.

Kneeling by the bed Sans was pressing his brother's hand to his forehead. Papyrus was lying still on his back, eyes closed. The static of magic was so strong that Frisk felt her HP trickle away one by one.

"What is going on?" she asked fearfully.

Sans turned to her, and his eyes were black as the night and brimming with tears. "He won't wake up," he gasped.

Guilt fell inside Frisk's stomach like a tonne weight. "I-I'm sorry-"

"No," Sans cut her off. "It's not you who hurt him. He was alright when we left." He placed Papyrus's hand down, then stiffened looking at his palms. The flow of magic subsided and Frisk took a step forward.

"Dust," Sans whispered. He showed his splayed hands to the human, eyes wide and terrified. "My brother has fallen down."

"I didn't-" Frisk's first thought was to deny it. Push out the possibility. Sans shook his head. His voice was numb and monotone as he mumbled:

"It doesn't matter. It's too late. Once you've fallen down, you can't…" he trailed off. Sharp white pupils appeared in his eye sockets. "Alphys," he whispered.

Before the human had a chance to ask, Sans bent down to gather his brother in his arms. He was staggering under the weight but he spoke quickly and firmly.

"I'm taking Papyrus to the Royal Scientist. He should still have Alphys's old materials and equipment. She's the only one who ever succeeded in helping fallen monsters. Somewhat." He took a deep breath. "I'll be back for you." And he disappeared.

Too stunned to react Frisk watched the space where the brothers had been a second ago. Then her hands started shaking. She reached into Papyrus's bed and her hand came back coated with a layer of fine dust.

She walked down the stairs and stood before the couch, her makeshift bed generously granted to her by the great Papyrus. Only then did she start crying.

She had been wrong about her entire journey. If this was where her determination would get her, she didn't want it. Toriel had had a good reason to teach her to control her anger. Frisk had killed Papyrus. Killed her closest friend. And there was no way to set it back.

The air pressed down on her. It took her a few minutes to recognise the feeling. For the first time in weeks the house was empty and there was no one to protect her. Flowey was coming for her.

"Human~" he sing-songed just at the border of her hearing. "Human…"

"Human." Frisk yelped when someone grabbed her hand. Sans was holding her wrist. "Let's go," he said, and the world flicked.

The Royal Laboratory was different from what Frisk remembered. It was brighter, livelier. Assistants in white cloaks milled about, watching Sans and the human curiously as they stormed by.

"Why didn't we teleport – _wheeze_ – straight to Papyrus?" Frisk demanded, out of breath.

"I haven't been here for a long time," Sans retorted, not slowing down. "Don't remember all the shortcuts."

They practically ran down a hallway lined with white doors before Sans came to an abrupt stop. "Here." Taking a breath to steel himself, he opened one of the doors.

Inside Papyrus was lying on a hospital cot, covered by a thin sheet up to his chin. He looked as if he was sleeping. At his side a monster in a white lab coat looked up from skimming through a thick folder. The Royal Scientist.

"Is this the human?" the monster asked.

"Down to the business doc, what have you got?" Sans stepped forward, laying one hand on Papyrus's forehead and reaching for the folder with the other.

Behind Frisk the door slammed shut. The human whirled around. Towering next to the door was Undyne, the captain of the Royal Guard.

"Human," she growled, teeth bared. She was older, much older. Her face was wrinkled by age and hatred, and the glint in her eyes told Frisk on first sight – she was going to kill her.

"What the hell doc?!" Sans cried out behind Frisk. "Why's Undyne here?"

"I had to call her!" the Royal Scientist retorted. "You should have done this in the first place! We need the human's Soul to break the Barrier!"

"No, we need the human alive," Sans spat. Frisk didn't dare tear her eyes from Undyne's face. "Undyne, don't you dare hurting the human. I'm warning you."

"Screw you," the soldier snapped. "The human will die." Slowly, with fingers unnaturally splayed, she outstretched her arm for the spear materialising in the air.

"I didn't want this!" Frisk shouted.

"I don't care what you wanted," Undyne hissed, fingers closing around the spear one by one. "You should just be dead. I should have come and killed you right away! Then Papyrus could have seen the surface, even if it was just for a few days!"

"What do you mean, just for a few days?" Sans echoed sharply.

"It doesn't matter anymore, does it?" the soldier threw her arms out, knocking over an empty vase. It fell and shattered on the floor. "He didn't want me to tell you. Papyrus… He…" Hot tears pushed into her eyes. She swallowed, hesitating.

"Papyrus has been terminally ill for years," the Royal Scientist said gently. "Undyne brought him in after he fainted during a sparring session. We found a large tumour in the back of his skull and secondary growths all over his body. He was beyond medical help."

"He wanted…" Undyne found her voice, "…to spend the time he had with you, Sans. I admitted him into the Royal Guard to make him happy while I still could. I had my best blacksmith make him that silly suit of armour to make him happy! If… if he hadn't _begged_ me not to interfere with your seizure…" Her blazing eyes fixed at Frisk. "By God, there would have been no place for you to hide! To think… to think Papyrus would protect you like that, up until the very end." She laughed shortly, hysterically. "I knew he was too kind-hearted for the job! I always knew it!"

"Are you telling me," Sans piped up in a quaking voice, "that Papyrus knew he was going to die soon and he didn't tell me?"

"He didn't want you to worry!" Undyne cried out, throwing her arms out again in a helpless gesture. "Like the doc said – there's no cure anyway."

"How would he know that? He's not a medical doctor," the short skeleton said sharply, and the accusation was like a knife.

The Royal Scientist hesitated. "You are right, Sans. I am a historian, not a doctor. Unfortunately the annals say that every dual caster who wasn't killed during the war fell down eventually. It's like monster body is not capable of wielding two types of magic. The malign process is accelerated even further if the foreign type is used frequently, for example… while sparring." He glanced at Undyne, who was listening to him with her jaw slack. "I'm sorry for not telling you sooner, captain."

"Are you saying," the soldier croaked, "it's my fault? For teaching him green magic?" The menacing spear fell out of her hand and disintegrated halfway to the floor.

The Royal Scientist said nothing.

"No," Frisk said slowly. "It's my fault." The monsters looked at her. "It's my fault for staying holed up in the Ruins for so long. It's my fault for wanting a comfortable life where I'd never cry again. It's my fault for turning away from everything. It's all my fault."

"Don't beat yourself up," Sans said softly. "You couldn't have known he was sick."

Frisk laughed helplessly. "I couldn't count how many times I've seen Papyrus get a headache! And he always asked me not to tell you… But that's not the issue."

Hot like lava, she felt a flower of boiling anger open up inside her. She wasn't angry with Undyne, who taught green magic to her disciple. She wasn't angry with Papyrus, who had denied them a chance to say goodbye. No. She was angry with herself.

She was angry with the little fat girl who chose to hate all people instead of searching for a cure for her soul. With the pig-headed child who climbed the forbidden mountain leaving a note: "I hate you all. It's your fault. I will never come back." The revived child that wanted to make those people pay for their sins with her own hands. The killer child that absorbed a gentle monster's soul to cross the Barrier.

The angry, forlorn child who found that she hadn't been missed at all. Who chose to turn her back on everything she knew and go back into the Underground to live with a different mother.

The frightened girl who abandoned her mum because she didn't trust her enough to ask for help. Who almost killed her best friend because she thought it would solve her own problems.

The selfish, selfish child who had always only thought of herself.

She'd been so stupid.

"I'm sorry Sans," the human said. Determination rose within her, a red-hot wave of unbridled rage. She could hear the skeleton shout, don't, please, but she had made her decision.

"Reset," she said in a loud, clear voice.

And the world obeyed.


	9. Return with the Elixir

Frisk woke up on a bed of golden flowers.

Staring into the bright daylight above, she tried to sort out her thoughts. She had just jumped down a deep hole on the top of Mount Ebott to end her stupid life.

No. She had just reset in her home town after a classmate told her she should have stayed dead.

No. She had just… She had just regained her determination after she saw Papyrus on his death bed.

The child sat up slowly. She had set everything back. It was all gone. Papyrus's illness, Sans's recovery, Toriel's care, Undyne's guilt. She had erased it all and nobody would remember a thing. She felt like crying but rubbing her eyes she told herself: she had done the right thing. It was her responsibility as the most determined person in the Underground to make the future right. She had broken her promise to Sans. Even if the skeleton would never know, the blame was hers to carry.

The human pushed herself to her feet. She had to see Papyrus and make sure that he was alright. She knew that it was too early in the timeline and he hadn't even begun learning green magic yet, but her heart wouldn't rest until then.

She bent down to pick up a wooden stick from the ground. Force of habit. She wanted to keep it around. Be it to ease the load on her knees or deterring…

"Howdy~" a cheerful voice greeted her. Frisk grimaced.

"Flowey," she grunted, turning to face the flower. "Long time no see."

"Oh?" Flowey cocked his head to the side. "Have we met before? I don't think so. Or have we?" His sweet expression melted into a deathly grin. "We have! My my, so rude of me to forget."

"Ah. So I'm not the only one whose memories get jumbled by a reset."

The flower gave her a surprised look, then burst out laughing. "Jumbled," he repeated. "Everyone else has forgotten you! Your beloved _mum_ will look at you and ask who you are."

Frisk stared at him coldly. "Yeah. I know."

"Getting angry now, aren't we? Feel that determination coursing through your veins? Remember beating Papyrus half to death-"

"That's enough," the human barked, raising her stick. "Do I have to shut you up?"

Excited, Flowey grinned wide. "Please do! If you can," he added, summoning a ring of bullets all around her.

As Frisk expected, it was then that Toriel made her appearance, saving the human and showing her around the Ruins once again. Frisk kept catching doubtful, scrutinising glances from the goat mum until, at last, she decided to try her luck.

"Mum," she asked, tugging at the monster's sleeve, "guess what my favourite food is!"

Toriel didn't even pause to think, smiling wide. "Is it pie?"

"It is!" Frisk beamed at her, now certain. Her mum hadn't forgotten her completely. She promised to herself that later, when she had made sure Papyrus was alright, she would find a way to contact her again and make up for the lost time to her. Right now, however, the priority was to make it out of the Ruins.

When they were finally standing before the Door, Frisk swore to herself that this time she wouldn't lose her temper. Even if Toriel killed her again. She wouldn't hurt her mum like the first time.

The battle was about to begin when suddenly someone banged on the door from the other side. "Knock knock," they called out. Frisk gaped in surprise. Sans?

Toriel paused as well, half turning toward the sound. She looked back at Frisk. Then at the door.

"Who's there?" she answered.

"Michael."

"Michael who?"

"Michael-ove, not war."

The goat mum giggled despite herself, and the tension bled out of her. Was it just the human, or was Toriel actually loathe to fight her child? "My friend, it's not even our usual day. Why did you come here?"

"Sentry duties," the skeleton said dismissively. "I was checking for humans. You know me, workaholic to the marrow of my bones." Toriel burst into snickering. Sans waited until she composed herself. "If I heard the two of you right, the human wants to leave the Ruins. Don't worry about letting them pass, lady. I'll take care of them."

"I…" Toriel hesitated, taken aback, "I don't think that is…" She blinked several times. She looked around herself, then at the human. Then back at the Door. "I feel like I've done this before…" she murmured.

She was remembering letting Frisk go in the previous run. The human wasn't going to let this opportunity slide. "Mum," she said, tugging at Toriel's hand, "I think it's alright. That person sounds really fun. Can I go with him, please? He'll take good care of me."

Toriel looked at her child with gentle, aching fondness. Slowly, she nodded.

"Nice stunt you pulled there, kid," Sans commended the human later as they trod down the forest path.

Frisk grinned. "Mum always tells me that I can talk my way out of nearly anything."

"Your mum sounds cool," Sans smiled. "My brother is cooler, though."

"You mean to say, your brother is a cooler, right?" the human winked at him.

"You beat me to that one, kid," he laughed. "Now." He stopped walking. "There's just one tiny thing I need to make sure of."

Frisk turned to face him, giving him a warm smile.

"Do you remember promising me that you wouldn't reset?"

The human's knees felt weak. Leaning against her stick she took a step back. She stared at the skeleton in fear.

"You're probably thinking something along the lines of, how can he know? And how come there wasn't a pun in the sentence?" Sans rubbed his face with his palm. "Yeah, I do know. For some reason I remember everything that happened after I touched that bone of yours." He looked her in the eye. "So they are real memories? Not another lifelike nightmare?"

Frisk nodded her head. A part of her that wasn't frightened as a small child was wondering how in the world a bone dildo could let monsters keep their memories through a reset.

"Wow," the skeleton exclaimed. "Just wow. The weirdest part isn't even having memories that technically aren't mine. The weirdest part is – that guy… he cared so much about everything! I remember being so emotional about you, about the stuff you were doing… It's unreal." He shook his head in disbelief.

"Aren't you mad at me?" Frisk piped up.

"Mad? Naw. I mean, look at me – I'm not the guy he was. I don't really give a damn about whatever promises you made."

Pausing, the human did look at him. In terms of age, this Sans was twelve years younger than the one she had come to know. And yet, somehow he looked older. Half of it were the dark circles under his eye sockets. The other half was… this quiet lethargy that stank of old age. It reminded Frisk that this was the Sans who, under the crushing realisation that his universe was at the mercy of a time traveller's whims, had given up on everything.

"I am not going to reset again," the human declared, stomping her foot. Her determination swelled high. Slightly embarrassed, she realised that she had just saved.

Sans gave her a smile. "It's okay kid, you don't have to make that sort of proclamations…"

"It's not a proclamation, it's… it's…!"

"No kid," Sans smiled wider, and it seemed empty. "I mean, I don't care about your proclamations. I know that you're gonna do whatever you like anyway. It's better that you don't lie to yourself."

"Bah! You are horrible! I liked the other Sans much better," Frisk frowned.

"Sure, sure," the skeleton grinned, motioning for her to follow him. "Come on, this serious talk is wearing me out. You must be eager to see my brother."

Eyes lighting up, the human frisked after him. She was going to meet Papyrus again!

"There he goes. Quick, hide behind this conveniently shaped lamp," the skeleton pointed. Frisk looked him in the eye and shook her head. "Well okay, if that's how you want it…"

"Brother!" Papyrus called out, striding in with long steps. "I cannot believe you! It's been eight days and you still haven't recalibrated your puzzles! What have you even been doing all day?"

"I've been working myself down to the bone, bro. Look, I even found a human."

Papyrus graced Frisk with a single glance before he turned back Sans. "That is not a human, that is a child! Humans are tall and very handsome, like me! This child is even wearing a striped sweater. Seriously, Sans, where do you boondoggle?"

He was adorable. And he _remembered_ Frisk, just like Toriel did. Even if the memories caused him not to recognise her. Again.

"Mr Skeleton," the human stepped forward, extending her hand, "I'd like to become your friend! You seem very cool. And stuff."

Papyrus broke into the widest smile she had ever seen on him. "Oh, random strange child, you're very cool, too!" He bent down to shake her little hand enthusiastically. "I'd love to be your friend! My name is Papyrus, and this is my lazy brother Sans! What is your name?"

The human blurted out: "It's Frisk! It's great to meet you." Belatedly she realised that the last and only time a monster had asked for her name, it was no sooner than after twelve years spent together. Papyrus asked about her name because he thought she was a monster. Frisk could understand the reason. She was _the_ human. The only, last human in the Underground, and as such she would be killed soon. There was no need for a name. And yet…

"Great to meet you, too!" Papyrus turned to his brother, pointing at the girl ecstatically. "Sans, look, look! I made a friend! She's called Frisk!"

"Good for you bro," the short skeleton gave him thumbs-up. "I'm happy for you."

"As you should be!" Papyrus nodded his head in large arcs. "Since I, the great Papyrus, am now one step closer to becoming immensely popular! Nyeh heh heh! Now," he doubled over to sweep the human up. Frisk yelped in surprise when he put her on his shoulder, securing her in place by locking an arm around her, "me and my cool friend are going to hang out! Bye bye~ Nyeh heh heh~" And he ran off, leaving Sans grinning there.

Some time later, when they were ardently building Frisk's snow persona next to Papyrus's and Sans's, the child asked: "Papyrus, where do you think determination comes from?"

Without a second of hesitation Papyrus answered: "From love, obviously!"

Hands full of cold, sparkling snow, the human contemplated this.

She had always thought that her determination stemmed from anger. Anger with how things were, and desiring to change them. That made sense. But what made her angry in the first place?

She grinned.

Wasn't that love? Be it for herself or for Papyrus, hadn't she always been angry that someone she loved got hurt, and it was unfair and ill deserved? When she was dying after jumping into the Underground, when she made it out to find she hadn't been missed, when she realised her stagnation had cost Papyrus everything, hadn't it always been just that?

With a surprised snicker the human repeated after Papyrus: "Obviously."

She didn't know what she would do with this run yet. But, looking at the merry skeleton making final adjustments to her statue, she knew one thing: It would be something great.

She was full of determination.


End file.
